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Whats your elk rifle

I would really rather have an archery tag but I don't so I'll be loading up some 160 grain Nosler AcuuBonds in .284 and I'll be taking my faithful old tack driver... 7 mm rem mag... My nephew hunts elk with a 300 ultra mag and while it puts out more horsepower I really like the 7 mag. Whats your rifle/cal./bullet of choice for elk?

I still have my previous elk rifle and fully intend to put her in the field again. I lovingly referred to her as the "Elkinator." She's a Remington Sendero SF2 in 300 RUM and she has accounted for three bulls. She has worn a Leupy Mark 4, Swaro Z3, and soon either a Vortex Viper HS LR or SWFA SS.

I enjoy calling bulls and hunting with a bow, and I know it isn't as "cool" to be a rifle hunter right now, but I still love it.

All three of my rifles are good elk rifles. My 30-06 was handed down to me by my father who took an elk in '71 off the Snake River in Idaho just before he suffered a massive stroke. My other two rifles are 700 Remingtons that I have had blue printed by a top notch gunsmith. One is 7RM with a Leupold 4x12x40 shooting 160 gr Accubonds and is an absolute tack driver. The other is a .300 Win Mag with a Nikon 4x14.4x40 with BDC, that I shoot 180 Accubonds. I have killed most of my Elk with the .300, the last two at 297 and 350 yards in their tracks. My first Elk was a beautiful 6x8 Tule Elk here in California in '96 with the 7RM. I love all three rifles, the 7rm I got for xmas when I was 15 the year my father took that elk in Idaho so I have had that one for quite a long time.

And as mentioned above, I love to hunt archery, but have only taken mulies with a bow. The only elk I ever tried to take with a bow was that Tule Elk hunt in '96. Opening day I missed a broken tine 6x6, ended up taking teh 6x8 two days later with a rifle.

At the moment I'm down to my custom 264WM shooting 140gr accubonds, and a Ruger M77 shooting 160gr accubonds. The 264 is really more my pet deer/antelope rifle that can step up to elk if need be. The Ruger M77 is an old one with the tang safety that I have plans for. I want to use the action to build a custom 300WM to shoot the 200gr accubond for everything that my 264 is on the light side for. I find that I need a 3 position or better a tang safety or the safety can rub into the fire position on my pack, I switch shoulders alot carrying a rifle slung. Packing it on my left side puts the safety against my pack.

I'm pretty much old school (I guess it reflects how old I am!) when it comes to my hunting rifles. My main elk rifle is an old Stoeger commercial mauser(60's vintage) in .300 Wby. I have rebarreled it with a Shillen match SS barrel, restocked it with a B & C composite stock. I have a Leupold 4 x 14 VX III that has a ballistic turret made for my hand loads. I use a 180 gr Nosler partition and Reloader 25 that leaves the muzzle at 3200. My backup in my faithful old customized 03 Springfield. Still has the original barrel, custom stock, Timney Trigger and Leupold VX III 3x9. I use my reloads with 4831 and the same Nosler I use in my .300.

Both shoot <minute groups and have filled my freezer for years!

Colorado Cowboy
Cowboy Action Shooter; Endowment Life Member-NRA
The Original Rocket Scientist-Retired
"My Father always considered a walk in the mountains as the equivalent of church going."
Aldous Huxley